Blaze gone

[sapajo]

Top notch forwards coach more important than signing player/s to my mind

Indeed, sadly this is seemingly a lost cause. The Board and a lot of supporters are fixated with the one eyed incestuous view that in order to be given a coaching post you must be an Ex Tiger. We need experienced and proven coaches if we want to improve not just old boy Ex Tigers being paid to learn on the job.

[BFG]

It amazes me that folk running a top club can't piece together something so simple.
The line out has not been good!
Why?
The first match against Bath they were playing against one of the finest line out jumpers that I have ever seen in the history of the sport in Luke Charteris.
The second match away at Saints they were up against one of the best line out jumpers in England currently, Courtney Lawes, it was an away match and the team did not play well all over and were under pressure In every dept.
The match against Gloucester had Ed Slater in the opposition line out, two rookies in the Leicester line out and the hookers completely folded under the pressure to a shambolic level as the crowd got more impatient at Welford Road.
And who gets the blame, a technical coach, not the selectors or the recruiters or just a plain acceptance that the players underperformed on the day, pathetic!

[Goshengareth]

Looking forward to a top flight, externally benchmarked forwards coach. As per other comments, not just the former Tiger who happens to be standing nearby at the time. Onwards and upwards. Good luck to Richard for the future.

[TTRITH]

It amazes me that folk running a top club can't piece together something so simple.
The line out has not been good!
Why?
The first match against Bath they were playing against one of the finest line out jumpers that I have ever seen in the history of the sport in Luke Charteris.
The second match away at Saints they were up against one of the best line out jumpers in England currently, Courtney Lawes, it was an away match and the team did not play well all over and were under pressure In every dept.
The match against Gloucester had Ed Slater in the opposition line out, two rookies in the Leicester line out and the hookers completely folded under the pressure to a shambolic level as the crowd got more impatient at Welford Road.
And who gets the blame, a technical coach, not the selectors or the recruiters or just a plain acceptance that the players underperformed on the day, pathetic!

No offense, but this is more than just a couple of bad line outs. Blaze was in charge of our forwards and theyve been poor for the last couple of seasons. Our line out isnt about the quality of the opposition either; the jumpers are not in sync with the hooker, the hookers throw is poor and those in the air are constantly tapping the ball down. Grab the ball for crying out loud.

Our forwards carrying has been largely ineffective, aside from the scrum our pack is failing to provide front foot ball.

The boys need ideas. You want to crucify the board for this decision, blame them for not making the call following the coaching review. He needed to go, and should have been given the respect of being let go at a sensible time.

3 games in is unfortunate and will be used to cry "transition", but despite the timing I believe a change for our forwards is desperately needed.

[johnthegriff]

What BFG says on this subject is not far wrong, in the first two matches we were up against some of the very best exponents of the lineout, however we have played against them before and performed better than recently. In previous years both Tom and Harry have proved to be accurate throwers in, if height is a factor in the throw then lets have someone 6'6" tall doing it there is no law says it has to be the hooker. I have no idea why the our lineout has become poor, it has to be a combination of factors. Richard Blaze with Cocker as forwards coach produced an effective lineout, things have changed, Blazey has gone we are all assuming he was pushed but we don't know, we now move forward either with a promoted coach from within or an experienced coach (Blaze had eight years in the job) from elsewhere. Personally I don't care which, only that it works and that whoever comes in can work in unison with MOC.

[ABClub]

If John Plumtree were happy to work with MOC he would be a fantastic appointment. Rumoured to be searching for a stint in the Prem.

In the short term I quite interested in seeing what Brett, Boris and hopefully a bit of Tom Croft can do to our forward play.

[BFG]

It amazes me that folk running a top club can't piece together something so simple.
The line out has not been good!
Why?
The first match against Bath they were playing against one of the finest line out jumpers that I have ever seen in the history of the sport in Luke Charteris.
The second match away at Saints they were up against one of the best line out jumpers in England currently, Courtney Lawes, it was an away match and the team did not play well all over and were under pressure In every dept.
The match against Gloucester had Ed Slater in the opposition line out, two rookies in the Leicester line out and the hookers completely folded under the pressure to a shambolic level as the crowd got more impatient at Welford Road.
And who gets the blame, a technical coach, not the selectors or the recruiters or just a plain acceptance that the players underperformed on the day, pathetic!

No offense, but this is more than just a couple of bad line outs. Blaze was in charge of our forwards and theyve been poor for the last couple of seasons. Our line out isnt about the quality of the opposition either; the jumpers are not in sync with the hooker, the hookers throw is poor and those in the air are constantly tapping the ball down. Grab the ball for crying out loud.

Our forwards carrying has been largely ineffective, aside from the scrum our pack is failing to provide front foot ball.

The boys need ideas. You want to crucify the board for this decision, blame them for not making the call following the coaching review. He needed to go, and should have been given the respect of being let go at a sensible time.

3 games in is unfortunate and will be used to cry "transition", but despite the timing I believe a change for our forwards is desperately needed.

Blaze did also oversee a very good line out once upon a time!
This is little more than shifting blame, something this place has got very good at.
Until they man up no coach in world rugby will last long enough to have any positive effect on this group.
It seems every time things don't go well a coach is gone, were they all bad!
It's plainly clear that any problems run far deeper than those with their necks on the chopping block.
On a technical note several of those players are extremely lacking in the consistency of their technical skills under pressure IMO, they can do it occasionally so they have clearly been coached, unfortunately they are also players who it is insisted must remain, no coach stands a chance in those circumstances!

[drc_007]

Tigers forward has been in slow decline for a couple of seasons.

"On a technical note several of those players are extremely lacking in the consistency of their technical skills under pressure"

In my book this is down to coaching, you learn a skill when fresh but then you return to it after an exhausting training session to ensure you can execute under pressure.

[BFG]

Tigers forward has been in slow decline for a couple of seasons.

"On a technical note several of those players are extremely lacking in the consistency of their technical skills under pressure"

In my book this is down to coaching, you learn a skill when fresh but then you return to it after an exhausting training session to ensure you can execute under pressure.

You canno't do that if you do not possess the requisite skills to replicate a pressure scenario equal to that of the opposition!
You advocate quantity over quality!
If the opposition are simply better then you won't find out until you get found out!

[L Smith]

This issue isn't just about our line out.
We have lost so many points through not being to create or defend a driving maul.
This used to be a staple and now we are towards the bottom of the pile in this department.

[sapajo]

We have been found out it's time to and for change .

[westwinds31]

Sad news, really hope his decision wasn't influenced by some on here calling for his head after 3 games- good luck in the future

I'm not quite sure which part of 'he was doing a terrible job' some people don't understand.

I'm struggling to understand this part. The line out. The part where Blaze (I'm pretty sure) works really hard in pre-season with some experienced players, some of whom have international honours, and those players fail to replicate in games what has been going well on the training paddock. I'm sure you're well aware that for a line out to function correctly there are many component parts, the thrower, the lifters and the jumper + timing. Any one of these fails and you have the proverbial dog's dinner. Add to that the opposition having done their homework and are trying to steal/ruin your ball, it's a tricky thing to get right. Amazingly, Blaze doesn't get involved during a match and can't really be blamed if Tom Youngs doesn't hit his jumper. That's actually the fault of either the throw, the caller, the jumper or the lifters.

You could argue that Cocker was sacked because the players couldn't implement what he wanted them to do. I suspect Blaze is victim of this also.

[westwinds31]

Sad news, really hope his decision wasn't influenced by some on here calling for his head after 3 games- good luck in the future

I certainly hope that Tigers Management do not consult this forum when making strategic decisions? If they do or have then we may as well pack it all in and find some other club to follow. IMO the writing has been on the wall since last season regarding the line out and forward play in general. The Tigers need someone really experienced to make sure the remedial actions are put in place asap.

TC...yes, my post not worded correctly. Of course what is said on here has had no bearing on the decision. I'm just annoyed with the posts that said "Blaze must go".

[Tiglon]

While it seems unfair to wholly blame the forwards coach when the forwards don't play as dominantly as back in the day when A-H were all legends, there are significant problems with both the maul and lineout, which are very much organisational aspects of forward play. If the players aren't clear on what they need to do in these situations, or how to do it, then that is a problem with the coaching. If they are doing the wrong thing because of difficulty thinking under pressure, or lack of concentration/effort, then that is a problem with the players. It's hard to judge which of these it is as an observer, but it has looked this season as though nobody in the pack is really clear about what they should be doing, regardless of who is on the pitch - just watch a few of the lineouts, confusion is the word that springs to mind.

The players do need to take some responsibility, of course, but our set piece problems look like the kind that could be mitigated, if perhaps not completely solved, by a really good coach providing clarity of purpose.

[Scott11]

Great news! Have people conveniently forgotten our joke maul,defensively and attacking too? If your feeling down stick our game on against R92 in France for some comedy attacking mauls!